The university librarian blamed for a controversial plan to sell four Shakespeare folios has resigned after he failed to declare that his lover worked for the auction house that was chosen to conduct the sale. Christopher Pressler announced yesterday that he is stepping down as director of Senate House Library “for personal reasons”, a month after Shakespearean scholars criticised his plan to sell the folios for an estimated £5 million as an “act of stupidity”.

He admitted last month that he had broken the University of London’s financial code by failing to disclose his seven-year relationship with Brett Tryner, an